Manufacturing system and process for personalized greeting cards

ABSTRACT

A method for producing personalized greeting cards includes receiving a plurality of greeting card orders from users and separating the ordered greeting cards into batches. The ordered greeting cards are produced in batches and a batch-separation symbol is printed on at least one greeting card in each batch. The greeting cards produced are separated into batches using the batch-separation symbols.

The present application is a continuation patent application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/185,862, entitled “Personalized photogreeting cards”, filed Jun. 28, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,236,258 thecontent of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to producing and distributing personalizedphoto greeting cards.

BACKGROUND

Greeting cards are typically printed with static designs and in largequantities. They can commonly be purchased at card stores such asHallmark, bookstores and other retail locations. After a user purchasesthe greeting cards, she can handwrite personalized information on thegreeting cards and mail them to family members, friends, or businessclients. Card printing vending machines have been developed to allow thecard purchasers to select the card designs and input their ownpersonalized messages before the actual cards are printed.

In recent years, online photo services such as Shutterflys, Inc., basedat Redwood City, Calif., have established services for users to upload,store and share their digital photo images. The users can order physicalphoto products such as photographic prints, photo books, CD's, etc. Theprint orders are fulfilled using automated digital printers, and shippedto the recipients as specified by the user. As the photo products arecontinuous produced, the products need to be separated in batches sothat the correct group of products can be shipped to the intendedrecipients.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,290 disclosed a system for interfacing an automaticprocessing machine with a stack of documents. In the disclosed system,“a stack of documents is transported one-at-a-time, under control of anautomatic machine. A machine-readable card is inserted betweenpreselected documents in the stack. When the transport detects a passageof the card through the transport system, the machine is commanded toperform a specific function. The exemplary machine described herein is amicrofilm camera and the illustrative functions are two side copying andbatch or file marking.” The approach of using machine-readable card isdisadvantageous, however, because it adds cost and complexity to thesystem.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatus for producing personalized photo greeting cardsare disclosed. In one embodiment, the personalized photo grating cardsare produced in an automated workflow in which the card orders fromdifferent users are automatically scheduled, printed, separated anddistributed to the intended recipients. The card jobs are separated inbatches.

In one aspect, a method for producing personalized greeting cardsincludes a) receiving a plurality of greeting card orders from users; b)separating the ordered greeting card orders into batches; c) producingthe ordered greeting cards, including printing a batch-separation symbolon at least one greeting card in each batch; and d) separating theproduced greeting cards into batches using the batch-separation symbols.

In another aspect, a method for producing a greeting card to be sent inan envelope to a recipient includes a) receiving a plurality of one ormore greeting card orders having one or more specified recipients fromusers; b) producing at least one greeting card in the greeting cardorder; d) printing card matching information and address information onthe envelope; and e) matching the greeting card with the correspondingenvelop envelope according to the card-matching information printed onthe envelope.

In yet another aspect, a method for producing personalized photo productincludes a) receiving digital images from users; b) receiving orders ofpersonalized photo product from the users; c) separating the orderedpersonalized photo product orders into batches; d) producing the orderedpersonalized photo product, including printing a batch-separation symbolon at least one personalized photo product in each batch; and e)separating the produced personalized photo product into batches usingthe batch-separation symbols.

In a further aspect, a system for producing personalized photo greetingcards, include a) a server for receiving digital images from a user; b)a computer terminal in remote connection with the server for the user tosend the digital images and the order information to the server, eachorder including at least one personalized photo greeting card having oneor more digital image provided by the user; and c) a printing andfinishing facility for producing the ordered personalized photo greetingcards in batches, including printing batch-separation symbols on atleast one personalized photo greeting card in each batch, separating theproduced personalized photo greeting cards into batches using thebatch-separation symbols, and shipping the personalized photo greetingcards to user-specified recipient.

In another aspect, the batch separation is marked on the greeting cardsby machine-detection symbols and visual symbols for operators'examination. The batch separation symbols are specific to the first andthe last greeting card in a batch, and for the greeting card in asingle-card batch. Error detection scheme is built in to preventerroneous merging and splitting of the batches.

In another aspect, a header card is printed and inserted before eachcard batch. The header card can include machine-readable and visualinformation about the batch. The header card can also carry informationfor product promotion. For example, the header card can be a sample cardto illustrate a new card design.

The greeting cards are properly matched to the envelopes that hold thecorresponding the greeting cards based on the visual andmachine-readable symbols are printed on both the greeting cards and thecorresponding envelopes. The correct matching between the envelopes andthe greeting cards are verified before the card is inserted into theenvelope and envelope is sealed.

An advantage of the present invention is that it is compatible with bothmachine detection and visual verification of the batches.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the batch separationis implemented without extra material cost and throughput penalty.

Yet another advantage of the invention is that it significantly reducesthe errors in mismatching print orders with recipients as wellmismatching of the greeting cards and the mailing envelopes.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the card batchescan be separated by header cards that be used for product promotions forother users or potential users, or for the recipients of the associatedcard batch. In the latter case, the promotion information can becustomized or personalized product promotions. The header cards servesthe purpose of batch separation, but are also used for productpromotion. The cost of material, labor and equipment are thereforeminimized.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and in the description below. Other features, objects, andadvantages of the invention will become apparent from the descriptionand drawings, and from the claims.

DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for producing personalized photogreeting cards in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a typical computer that a customer uses for receivingdigital image data from a digital image capture device and for accessinga photo hosting website on the Internet;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a folded greeting card including fourfaces;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a workflow for making folded greetingcards;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary layout of the back face of the folded greetingcard in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 a shows an example of a visual symbol for the first photogreeting card in a batch of two or more cards;

FIG. 6 b shows another example of the visual symbol for the last photogreeting card in a batch of two or more cards;

FIG. 6 c shows another example of the visual symbol for the photogreeting card in a batch of a single card; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a card envelope that is printed with symbols formatching with the corresponding greeting card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the system 10 for producing personalizedphoto greeting cards in accordance with the present invention. An onlinephoto system 20 is established by a photo service provider to providephoto services on a wide area network such as the Internet 50. Theonline photo system 20 includes a data center 30 and one or moreprinting and finishing facilities 40 and 41.

The data center 30 includes one or more servers 32, data storage devices34 for storing image data, user account and order information, and oneor more computer processors 36 for processing orders and renderingdigital images. An online-photo website is powered by the servers 32 toserve as a web interface between the users 70 and the photo serviceprovider. The users can order photo products from the web interface. Theprinting and finishing facilities 40,41 produces the ordered photoproducts such as photographic prints, greeting cards, photo albums,photo calendars, photo books, photo T-shirt, photo mugs, record imageson compact disks (CDs), and framed photo prints. In accordance with thepresent invention, the greeting cards include folded greeting cards,postcards, trading cards such as baseball cards or game cards, and otherform of cards. The users 70 can personalize their greeting cards byincluding an image uploaded from the website.

The architecture of the data storage devices 34 is designed to optimizethe data accessibility, the storage reliability and the cost. Furtherdetails on the image data storage in online photo system 20 are providedin the commonly assigned and above referenced U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/428,871 filed Oct. 27, 1999, titled “Multi-Tier Data StorageSystem”, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The printing and finishing facilities 40,41 can be co-located at thedata center 30. Alternatively, the printing and finishing facility 40,41can be located remotely from the data center 30. Multiple printing andfinishing facilities 40,41 can be set up so that each printing andfinishing facility 40,41 can be located geographically close to a largepopulation of customers to shorten order delivery time. Furthermore, theprinting and finishing facilities 40,41 and the data center 30 can beowned and operated by different business entities. For example, the datacenter 30 can be owned by a first business entity that hosts a websitethat provides a web front and web user interface for the user 70. Theprinting and finishing facilities 40,41 can be owned by a secondbusiness entity that fulfills the photo product orders that are receivedfrom the data center 30. In this particular arrangement, the secondbusiness entity is often referred as an Application Service Provider(ASP). The photo service provider can provide services to its customersfrom its own website, as well as fulfill (i.e. ASP) photo products forwebsites hosted by other business entities.

The printing and finishing facility 40 includes network servers 42 forcommunicating with the data center 30, printers 45 for printing imageson physical surfaces, finishing equipment 46 for operations after theimages are printed, and shipping stations 48 for confirming thecompletion of the orders and shipping the ordered photo products torecipients 100 and 105 (the user 70 can be a recipient). The printers 45are digital printers that takes digital data input and produces imageson a receiver. Examples of printer 45 include can be digitalphotographic printers such as Fuji Frontier Minilab printers, Kodak DLSminilab printers, Gretag CYRA FastPrint digital photo printer, or KodakI-Lab photo printers. The printers 45 can also include offset digitalprinters or digital printing presses such as HP Indigo UltraStream 2000digital printing press, Xerox's DocuColor printers etc. The printers 45can also include large format photo or inkjet printers for printingposters and banners. The printing and finishing facilities 40,41 caninclude a film processor 43 for processing exposed films, and a scanner44 for digitizing a processed film stripe. The network servers 42 areconnected with the data center 30 via a computer network 80 such as aLocal Network or a Wide Area Network. The order information and imagedata can be transfected from servers 32 to the network servers 42 usinga standard or a proprietary protocol (FTP, HTTP, among others). Thefinishing equipment 46 can perform any operations for finishing acomplete photo product other than photo printing such as cutting,folding, adding a cover to photo book, punching, stapling, gluing,binding, envelope printing and sealing, packaging, labeling, weighingand postage metering. The finishing operations can also include framinga photo print, recording image data on a CD-ROM, etc. Furthermore, theprinters and the finishing equipments can be located in different sites.Some finishing operations can be fulfilled by an external contractor.More detailed workflow for producing folded greeting cards isillustrated in FIG. 4.

A user 70 can access the online-photo website using a computer terminal60 as shown in FIG. 2. The computer terminal 60 can be a personalcomputer located at a home or at a business, or a public entry terminalsuch as a kiosk. The computer terminal 60 allows a user 70 to executesoftware to perform tasks such as communicating with other computerusers, accessing various computer resources, and viewing, creating, orotherwise manipulating electronic content, that is, any combination oftext, images, movies, music or other sounds, animations, 3D virtualworlds, and links to other objects. Exemplary components of the computerterminal 60, shown in FIG. 2, include input/output (I/O) devices (mouse203, keyboard 205, display 207) and a general purpose computer 200having a central processor unit (CPU) 221, an I/O unit 217 and a memory209 that stores data and various programs such as an operating system211, and one or more application programs 213 including applications forviewing, managing, and editing digital images (e.g., a graphics programsuch as Adobe Photoshop). The computer 200 also includes non-volatilememory 210 (e.g., flash RAM, a hard disk drive, and/or a floppy disk,CD-ROM, or other removable storage media) and a communications device223 (e.g., a modem or network adapter) for exchanging data with anInternet 50 via a communications link 225 (e.g., a telephone line).

In accordance with the present invention, the computer 200 allows theuser 70 to connect to the online-photo website using the communicationscard or device 223. The user 70 can set up and access her personalaccount. The user 70 can enter user account information such as theuser's name, address, payment information (credit card number), andinformation about the recipient of the photo products ordered by theuser 70. The user 70 can also enter payment information such as creditcard number, the name and address on the credit card etc. The user 70can also send (i.e. upload) digital image data to the online-photowebsite. In accordance with the present invention, the user can storethe images in an online photo album, create personalized photo greetingcard at the web user interface, and order a personal photo greeting cardfor specified recipients 100 and 105.

The computer 200 of FIG. 2 can also be connected to various peripheralI/O devices such as an image capture device (digital camera, filmscanner or reflective scanners). One such peripheral device is a digitalcamera 208 that enables users to take pictures and save them in digital(electronic) format. Typically, the digital camera 208 is connected tothe computer 200 only while the user is transferring images to thecomputer's disk drive or other non-volatile memory 210. The digitalcamera 208 can be connected to the computer 200 using a Firewire or anUSB port, from a camera cradle (e.g. Kodak DX3900 rising an EasyShareCamera Dock), or over wireless media such as radio or optical medium.The digital images captured by a digital camera are typically stored inmemory card (e.g., SmartMedia™ or CompactFlash™) that are detachablefrom the digital camera. The digital images on a memory card can betransferred to the computer 200 using a card reader 206 and saved onnon-volatile memory 210.

The user 70 can also obtain digital images from film-based prints from atraditional camera, by sending an exposed film into a photo-finishingservice, which develops the film to make prints and/or scans (orotherwise digitizes) the prints or negatives to generate digital imagefiles. The digital image files then can be downloaded by the user ortransmitted back to the user by e-mail or on a CD-ROM, diskette, orother removable storage medium. The users can also digitize images froma negative film using a film scanner that is connected to the computer200 or from a reflective image print using a scanner. Digital images canalso be created or edited using an application program 213 (e.g., agraphics program such as Adobe Photoshop).

Once the digital images are stored on the computer 200, a user canperform various operations on them using application programs 213 storedin memory 209. For example, an image viewer application can be used forviewing the images and a photo editor application can be used fortouching up and modifying the images. In addition, an electronicmessaging (e.g., e-mail) application can be used to transmit the digitalimages to other users. In accordance with the present invention, one ofthe application programs 213 can enable the user 210 creating apersonalized photo greeting card on the computer 200. Several of theabove described imaging functions can be incorporated in a singleimaging software, which can be provided by the photo service providerand installed on computer 200 for the user 70. More details aboutapplication programs for image enhancement and image management.

In addition to viewing the digital images on the computer display 207,the user 70 may desire to have physical photo products made of digitalimages. Photo prints can be generated by the user 70 using a digitalprinter 230 that is connected to the computer 200. Typical digitalprinters 230 can include such as an inkjet printer or a dye sublimationprinter. The user 70 can also purchase photo products from the onlinephoto service provider. In accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of such photo products may include personalizedphoto greeting cards, photo prints based on silver halide photographicpaper (versus ink jet receiver used by ink jet printers), personalizedphoto greeting cards, photo books and albums, photo T-shirt, and photo,mugs etc. The personalized photo greeting cards include users' photosand personalized text. The production of these photo products oftenrequire the use of commercial equipment which are usually only availableat a commercial production location such as the printing and finishingfacilities 40 and 41. One online photo service provider that makes suchphoto products is Shutterfly, Inc., located at Redwood City, Calif.,U.S.A.

In accordance with the present invention, the user 70 can be a consumerthat accesses the computer terminal 60 from home or a public entryterminal. The user 70 can also be a business owner or employee that mayaccess the computer terminal 60 at a retail location such as a photoshop or a printing store. In the latter case, the digital images may begenerated by a customer of the business and later provided the businessfor receiving an imaging service. An advantage of the present invention,as described above, is that it allows the business to provide photoproducts that are otherwise unavailable at the business location. Forexample, the production of personalized photo greeting cards requirecommercial printing press and finishing equipment that are not typicallyavailable at retail business locations. The formats of communicationbetween the computer terminal 60 and the servers 32 as well as thegraphic user interface (as described below relating to FIGS. 3 through7) can be customized for the consumer and commercial customers.

The computer terminal 60 can also be a public entity terminal such as akiosk for receiving digital image data from the user 70 and updating thedigital images to the server 32. After the digital image files have beenuploaded, the user can view, manipulate and/or order prints in themanners described above. The public entry terminal can also supportvarious electronic payment and authorization mechanisms, for example, acredit or debit card reader in communication with a paymentauthorization center, to stable users to be charged, and pay for, theirprints at the time of ordering.

A typical process of using an online photo service is now described. Theuser 70 sends digital images to the servers 32 provided by the onlinephoto system 20 by uploading over the Internet 50 using a standard or aproprietary protocol (FTP, HTTP, XML, for example) or electroniccommunication application (for example, e-mail or special-purposesoftware provided by the photo-finisher). The user 70 can also senddigital image data stored on a physical storage medium such as a memorycard or recordable CD by US mail, overnight courier or local deliveryservice. The photo-finisher can then read the images from the storagemedium and return it to the user, potentially in the same package as theuser's print order. In addition, the photo service provider can loaddata or programs for the user's benefit onto the storage medium beforereturning it to the user. For example, the photo-finisher can load thestorage medium with an application program 213 for the user to create apersonalized photo greeting card on his computer 200.

The user 70 can also send a roll of exposed film and processed filmnegatives to the photo service provider. The exposed film is processedby the film processor 43 and digitized by the scanner 44 in the printingand finishing facilities 40, 41. The digital image data output from thescanner 44 is stored on the data storage 34.

After the photo service provider has received the user's digital images,the photo service provider can host the images on the online photowebsite, at which the user can view and access the images using abrowser application. The user 70 accesses the online-photo website todesignate which of the images should be reproduced on a photo product,parameters relating to printing (e.g., finish, size, number of copies),and one or more recipients 100, 105 to whom the photo products are to besent.

In addition to hosting the user's images on a web page, the photoservice provider usually stores the images in an image archive on in thedata storage 34 so that the user 60 and others given authorization bythe user (e.g. the share recipient 110) can access them in the future.The photo service provider can also provide sample images for the usersto select for use online or producing a physical photo product.

After the user's images have reached the photo service provider and havebeen made available online, the user can place an order with the photoservice provider. One way to place an order is by having the user 70view the images online, for example, with a browser and selectivelydesignate which images should be printed. The user can also specify oneor more recipients 100,105 to whom prints should be distributed and,further, print parameters for each of the individual recipients, forexample, not only parameters such as the size, number of copies andprint finish, but potentially also custom messages to be printed on theback or front of a print.

The information stored in the data storage 34 is provided to a printingand finishing facilities 40,41 for making the photo products. The photoproducts include photographic prints, but also any other item to whichgraphical information can be imparted, for example, greeting or holidaycard, books, greeting cards, playing cards, T-shirts, coffee mugs, mousepads, key-chains, or any other type of gift or novelty item. The photoproducts are printed by the printer 45 and finished by finishingequipment 46 according to the printing parameters as specified by theuser 70. The photo products are then delivered to the specifiedrecipients 100, 105 using standard U.S. Mail, or courier services suchas Federal Express or UPS.

Further details on the generation and distribution of photo productsusing online photo system 20 are provided in the commonly assigned andabove referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/436,704, filed onNov. 9, 1999, titled “Distributing Images to Multiple Recipients”, byBaum and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/450,075, filed on Oct. 27,1999, titled “Printing Images in an Optimized Manner”, Baum, et al. Thedisclosures of these patent applications are herein incorporated byreference.

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective of a folded greeting card 300,including a cover face 310, internal faces 320, and a back face 330. Thetwo flaps containing the cover face 310 and the back face 330 areseparated by a central fold 340. The greeting cards are typically in thedimensions of 5″ by 7″ or 4″ by 6″, after folding. The cover face 310includes an image selected from the user 70's photo album on the web. Aborder or annotations can be added to the image on the cover face 310.The incorporation of a user's personal images from his or her photoalbum at the website into a personalized greeting cards is similar tothe creation of personalized photo calendars that is described in theabove mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/106,902, filed onMar. 25, 2002, titled “Producing and sharing personalized photocalendars”, by Weitzman et al. The disclosure of this relatedapplication is incorporated herein by reference.

The internal faces 320 of the folded greeting card 300 includepersonalized greeting messages. The personalized message are input orselected by the user 70 at the user interface at the web site providedthe online photo system 20.

The personalized photo greeting card designed by the user 70 can bepreviewed and edited at the web user interface. The preview can be shownin two-dimensional layout or in perspective views. The greeting cardscompleted can be saved as a project for the user 70 to reuse to savetime in the future. Details of previewing and editing are disclosed.U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/721,484, filed on Nov. 22, 2000,titled “U.S. Interface and Methods for On-line Print Service”, byManolis et al., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/450,804, filed onNov. 29, 1999, titled “Image Uploading”, by Manolis, et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/560,609, filed on Apr. 28, 2000, titled “Systemand Method of Providing a User Interface for Changing Attributes of anImage-based Product”, by Haeberli, and U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/684,595, filed on Oct. 5, 2000, titled “Previewing a framed imageprint”, by Haeberli. The disclosure of these related application isincorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation steps of producing foldedgreeting cards. The orders from the users 70 are scheduled as printingjobs for production at the printing and finishing facilities 40,41. Inan automated workflow, the greeting cards ordered by different users 70are continuously printed at the printer 45. The continuous printing modeminimizes the down time of the printer and maximizes the usage of theprinters. The efficient use of the printers 45 will lower the equipmentcost as well labor cost per greeting card.

The image data sent to the printer 45 include images corresponding tothe cover face 310, back face 330, and internal faces 320 of the foldedgreeting card 300, which will be distributed on the receiver in apredefined layout (box 400). The receivers are preferably cardstockpaper, and can be input to the printer in sheet or web form. The cardimages are typically printed on the both sides of the receivercorresponding to the outer and internal faces of the folded cards (FIG.3). When the receiver is fed in sheet form, one or more greeting cardscan be printed on each sheet. For example, the sheet can be indimensions of 12″×18″ wherein two greeting cards are printed doublesided in two 10″×7″ image areas.

As the greeting cards are continuously produced, it is necessary to beable to separate the greeting cards after the greeting cards areproduced so the correct greeting card are sent to the intendedrecipients. For this purpose, the greeting cards to be printed areseparated in batches. The batches may be defined so that differentbatches correspond to different recipient so that the greeting cards canbe separated in batches (box 430) and packaged and sent to the samerecipient. The batches can also be defined based on the capacity of thecontainers. For example, if a container for packaging cards can hold 50greeting cards, the batch size can be defined as 50 cards. If arecipient receives 100 greeting cards, the package will include twocontainers, each having 50 greeting cards.

In accordance with the present invention, the separation of the orderbatches is facilitated using batch-separation symbols. FIG. 5 shows anexemplified layout of the back face 330 of the folded greeting card 300in accordance with the present invention. The back face 330 includes avisual symbol 510, a machine-readable symbol 520, a serial number 530,and a corporate logo 540. The specific designs of the symbols can beoptimized in pattern, color, and size so that they can merge into theoverall look of the cards. The greeting cards are sorted in apre-determined sequence in each batch as defined by a uniquealpha-numeric character corresponding to each specific card. Forexample, in FIG. 5, the serial number “12345-6789-50-01” includesseveral number strings: “12345” denotes the order number from a customerwho ordered the cards, and “6789” the batch number. The order number isprinted on the greeting card 300 for assisting the customer to referback to the card order in the future. “50” defines the number ofgreeting cards in the specific batch. The last digits in the serialnumber 530 determine the sequence number of the greeting card within thebatch. For example, “01” denotes the first card in the batch. The20^(th) card in the batch of 50 greeting cards thus has a suffix number“20”. It is understood that the specific scheme for defines the serialnumber may vary within the scope of the present invention.

The visual symbols 510 are used for the visual examination by theoperators (box 430). Different visual symbols can be marked on the firstand the last card in a batch. For example, the first card visual symbol610 and the last card visual symbol 620 are respectively shown in FIGS.6 a and 6 b. If a batch contains only a single greeting card, adifferent visual symbol 630 (shown in FIG. 6 c) can be used to properlydistinguish it from other card batches. The visual symbols asillustrated in FIGS. 6 a-6 c can be crosschecked with the serial numbers530 as discussed above. In addition, as described below in relation tobox 430, the machine-readable symbols can also be decoded by a machineand cross verified against the visual symbol 510 and the serial number530.

Returning to FIG. 4, the image areas printed with the greeting cardinformation are next cut into pieces each containing one individualgreeting card (box 410). A stack of receiver sheets can be cut by aguillotine cutter to produce stacks of 10″×7″ receiver pieces eachcontaining one greeting card. Guillotine cutters are available from anumber of firms such as Baumfolder, located at Sidney, Ohio, andChallenge at Grand Haven, Minn. The cutting can also be conducted usingslit cutters, box cutters, available from Rollem Corporation of America,located Hempstead, N.Y., etc.

Next the receiver pieces containing individual greeting cards are foldedinto 5″ by 7″ folded greeting cards 300 (box 420). Common commercialfolders are available from MBO America, located at Westampton, N.J.,Baumfolder, GBR System Corporation, and Rollem Corporation of America.Typical folding operations on at thick card stock receiver include firstscoring the receiver piece along the old line along a first direction,and second folding at the fold line to produce the fold 340 by movingthe receiver along a second direction at the right angle to the firstdirection.

The folded greeting cards 300 are separated in batches (box 430) afterthe cards are folded. The batch separation can be conducted with theassistance of one or a combination of the visual symbol 510, themachine-readable symbol 520, and the serial number 530. In oneexemplified process, the machine-readable symbols are printed inbarcode. An operator picks up a first card in a batch as indicated bythe first card visual symbol 610 and scans the machine readable code 520using a bar-code scanner that is connected to a computer. The bar codeis decoded and the information about this particular card batch isextracted from a database. The operator then flips across the foldedcards and find the last card in the batch as indicated by the last cardvisual symbol 620. The operator uses the bar-code scanner of themachine-readable symbol on the last greeting card. The informationextracted from the second barcode scan will be compared to theinformation from the first scan. If the two scans confirm the matchedbatch number and the first and the last cards within the batch, thecomputer will generate a pass signal in visual or audio form. If nomatching is found, an error signal will be produced by the computer andthe operator will be alerted to physically check batch separation of thefolded greeting cards.

A unique visual symbol 630 is marked on the back face of the greetingcard if it is the single card in the batch. A special symbol is usedbecause this card is both the first and the last card in the batch. Toverify the batch information, the operator scans the machine-readablesymbol 520 twice to close the check loop on the whole batch.

Another task at the batch separation 430 is to sort the card orderaccording to the shipment types. The common card orders include theboxed cards and direct-mail cards. The boxed cards are ordered andshipped back the same user 70. For example, if a user likes to put somehandwriting messages on her Christmas Cards or Holiday Cards, she ordersthe cards as boxed cards, writes messages, and mails the cards out tothe recipients by herself. The direct-mail cards ordered by a user 70are to be mailed by the photo service provided directly to therecipients. The user inputs the recipient's address, her address as thesender's address, and selects a stamp type for the direct-mail cards.This saves the user from spending additional time on the greeting card.

In accordance with the present invention, the colors of thebatch-separation symbols (510,520,530) can be used to indicate theproperties of the card orders. For example, different colors in thebatch-separation symbols can represent the shipping type or thepackaging type. The orange color indicates boxed cards for UPS next-dayshipping and a light green for direct-mail cards. Using the color codes,the operator can direct-mail cards and the boxed cards. The boxed-cardbatches are sent to combine with the correct number of blank envelops(440), and packed in a container. The number of the blank envelopsneeded for each boxed cards is indicated from the serial number on theback face of the cards or from the signal generated by the computerafter scanning the machine-readable code.

In accordance with the present invention, the blank envelopes can becounted in several methods (box 440 of FIG. 4). The blank envelopes canbe presorted in groups of fixed numbers (e.g. 10, 25, 50 per group) toaid the manual counting at the step of combination with the blankenvelopes (440). Alternatively, after the barcode 520 on a greeting cardis scanned and the number envelopes needed for the batch is decoded, theblank envelopes can be weighed by a digital scale to match the correctnumber of envelopes. The scanning of the barcode 520 on a greeting card(e.g. the first card in a batch) can also trigger an printer to countout blank envelopes without printing any information on them.

Next, the packaged boxed cards are sent to shipping (480), or toorder-consolidation with other photo products (e.g. photo prints, CD'setc.) in the same order (450) and sent to shipping. The shipping labeland shipping slip are printed with proper shipping address, orderinformation and a bar code. The products are packaged and postagemetered. The completion of the order is confirmed by scanning theshipping barcode at the shipping station (480).

In accordance with the present invention, the separation of the batch ofgreeting cards can also be achieved by inserting a header greeting cardbetween successive card batches. A header greeting card is not orderedby the user 70, but designed and printed as part of the workflow. Theheader cards can include marketing and product promotion informationsuch as a sample of a new card design for birthday party or Mother'sDay. Alternatively, the header cards can be orders from a differentorder containing a plurality cards with static content. Once the cardbatches are properly separated in box 430 (FIG. 4), the header cards canbe placed in a separate container to be shipped to the intendedcustomers or promotion audience.

The header cards can be printed and sent to the recipients 100,105together with the cards in the same card batch. The header cards caninclude product promotional information specifically customized to therecipient that will be receiving the greeting cards in the card batch.For example, if the recipient is known to be a film camera user,promotion information can include sales information on film mailers forthe recipient to send in exposed film rolls to the photo serviceprovider for film development and digitization of the exposed images.The product promotion information can also include images or a newproduct such as a photobook (e,g, Snapbook available at“www.Shutterfly.com” website) or URL links where promotion informationcan be found. The header cards that are customized or personalized forthe recipients will be sent to the recipients in their respective cardorders.

After the direct-mail cards are scanned by the barcode scanner (box 430)for batch separation, the envelopes are printed for the whole batch (box460). As shown in FIG. 7, the printed information on the envelope 700includes the sender address 750 and recipients address 760, as well as astamp code 710, a serial number 720, and a bar code 740 under a stamparea 740. The stamp symbol aids the operator to select a stamp for eachenvelope. The serial number 720 matches the last two digital of theserial number 530 so that the direct-mail card and the correspondingenvelopes can be matched. The greeting cards are respectively insertedinto each envelope and the envelope is sealed (470). The correct stamptype is selected according to the stamp code 710. The stamp is affixedover the stamp area 740 to fully cover the stamp code 710, the serialnumber 720, and the bar code 740 from the recipient's view. The barcode740 of at least one envelope in a direct-mail batch is scanned toconfirm the completion of the direct-mail order batch before they areshipped (480). The barcode 740 can also include information about thematching greeting card so that the scanning of the barcode 740 and thescanning of the machine-readable code 520 will confirm the correctmatching of the envelope 700 and the corresponding greeting card.

In accordance with the present invention, a batch of greeting cardstogether with the corresponding envelops with printed address andcard-matching information can be shipped in a single package to arecipient (typically the user who submitted the card order). Each cardcan be inserted into the corresponding envelope or tugged in the flap ofthe corresponding envelope. The envelope is typically not sealed toallow the recipient to write personal message on the cards. In general,the boxed cards, the direct-mail cards, and other photo products can allbe consolidated into one package, if they are to be shipped to the samerecipient.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here maybe realized in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware,firmware, software, or in combinations thereof. A system or otherapparatus that uses one or more of the techniques and methods describedhere may be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium,configured with a computer program, where the storage medium soconfigured causes a computer system to operate on input and/or generateoutput in a specific and predefined manner. Such a computer system mayinclude one or more programmable processors that receive data andinstructions from, and transmit data and instructions to, a data storagesystem, and suitable input and output devices. Each computer program maybe implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programminglanguage, or in assembly or machine language if desired; and in anycase, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Suitableprocessors include, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors.

A number of embodiments have been described. Nevertheless, it will beunderstood that various modifications may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. For example, advantageous resultsstill could be achieved if steps of the disclosed techniques wereperformed in a different order and/or if components in the disclosedsystems were combined in a different manner and/or replaced orsupplemented by other components. Accordingly, other embodiments arewithin the scope of the following claims.

ELEMENT NUMBER LIST

-   10 system for producing personalized photo greeting cards-   20 online photo system-   30 data center-   32 server-   34 data storage devices-   36 computer processor-   40 printing and finishing facility-   41 printing and finishing facility-   42 network server-   43 film processor-   44 scanner-   45 printer-   46 finishing equipment-   48 shipping station-   50 Internet-   60 computer terminal-   70 user-   80 computer network-   100 recipient-   105 recipient-   110 share recipient-   200 computer-   203 mouse-   205 keyboard-   206 card reader-   207 computer display-   208 digital camera-   209 memory-   210 non-volatile memory-   211 operating system-   213 application program-   217 I/O unit-   221 Central Processing Unit (CPU)-   223 communication device-   225 communications link-   230 digital printer-   300 folded greeting card-   310 front face-   320 internal face-   330 back face-   340 fold-   400 printing-   410 cutting-   420 folding-   430 batch separation-   440 combining with envelops-   450 order consolidation-   460 printing envelops-   470 stuffing and sealing envelops-   480 shipping-   510 visual symbol-   520 machine-readable code-   530 serial number-   540 corporate logo-   610 first card visual symbol-   620 last card visual symbol-   630 visual symbol for a single-card batch-   700 envelop-   710 stamp code-   720 serial number-   730 bar code-   740 stamp area-   750 sender address-   760 recipient address

1. A method for producing personalized greeting cards, comprising:receiving orders of greeting cards from one or more users, wherein eachof the greeting cards is to be mailed to a recipient specified by theone or more users; receiving, from the one or more users, content to beprinted on the greeting cards; separating the orders into batches ofgreeting cards; producing the batches of greeting cards using productionequipment; printing a batch-separation symbol and the content receivedfrom the one or more users on one of the greeting cards in a batch ofgreeting cards, wherein the one of the greeting cards printed with thebatch-separation symbol is to be mailed to a recipient; and separatingthe greeting cards into batches using the batch-separation symbolprinted on the one of greeting cards in each batch, wherein thebatch-separation symbol includes a machine-readable symbol and analpha-numeric character, wherein a user scans the machine readablesymbol from the first card and the last card of a batch; if the twoscans confirm the matched batch number in the first card and the lastcard within the batch, the method generates a pass signal.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising printing the separation symbol on a firstcard, a last card, or both the first card and the last card in the batchof greeting cards.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein differentbatch-separation symbols are printed on the first card and the last cardin the batch of greeting cards.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thestep of separating the greeting cards comprises reading themachine-readable symbol printed on the one of the greeting cards in thebatch of greeting cards.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordersare separated into batch of greeting cards in accordance to therecipients for the greeting cards.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: sorting the separate batches of the greeting cards inseparate containers, wherein each container includes a batch of greetingcards; packaging one or more separate containers in a package; andshipping the package to a recipient specified in one of the orders. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the step of producing the batches ofgreeting cards comprises printing an image received from one of theusers on at least one of the greeting cards in the batches.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the orders of greeting cards are received bya computer server from the one or more users via a computer network. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the batch-separation symbol is printed ina color according to a parameter specified in the orders.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the step of producing the batches of greeting cardscomprises: printing a card layout on one or more receivers; cutting theone or more receivers into flat card sheets; and folding the flat cardsheets to produce the greeting cards.
 11. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: printing serial numbers on a batch of the greeting cards toindicate a pre-determined sequence of the greeting cards in the batch;and sorting the greeting cards in the batch according to the serialnumbers printed on the greeting cards.
 12. The method of claim 1,wherein the content includes personalized text provided by the one ormore users.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includespersonalized image provided by the one or more users.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving the content from the one or moreusers in a layout of the one of the greeting cards; and allowing the oneor more users to preview the layout of the one of the greeting cardswith the content, wherein the content is printed in the layout on theone of the greeting cards printed with the batch-separation symbol. 15.A system for producing personalized greeting cards, comprising: acomputer system configured to receive orders of greeting cards andcontent to be printed on the greeting cards from one or more users,wherein each of the greeting cards is to be mailed to a recipientspecified by the one or more users, wherein the computer system isconfigured to separate the orders into batches of greeting cards;production equipment configured to produce the batches of greetingcards; a printer configured to print a batch-separation symbol and thecontent received from the one or more users on one of the greeting cardsin a batch of greeting cards; and a sorting system configured toseparate the greeting cards into batches using the batch-separationsymbol printed on the one of greeting cards in each batch, wherein theone of the greeting cards printed with the batch-separation symbol is tobe mailed to a recipient, wherein the batch-separation symbol includes amachine-readable symbol and an alpha-numeric character, wherein a userscans the machine readable symbol from the first card and the last cardof a batch; if the two scans confirm the matched batch number in thefirst card and the last card within the batch, the system generates apass signal.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer system isfurther configured to receive the content from the one or more users ina layout of the one of the greeting cards and to allow the one or moreusers to preview the layout of the one of the greeting cards with thecontent, wherein the content is printed by the printer in the layout onthe one of the greeting cards printed with the batch-separation symbol.17. The system of claim 15, wherein the printer is configured to printthe separation symbol on a first card, a last card, or both the firstcard and the last card in the batch of greeting cards.
 18. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the printer is configured to print serial numbers on abatch of the greeting cards to indicate a pre-determined sequence of thegreeting cards in the batch, wherein the sorting system is configured tosort the greeting cards in the batch according to the serial numbersprinted on the greeting cards.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein theprinter is configured to print a card layout and an image received fromone of the users on a receiver.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein thecomputer system is configured to separate the orders are separated intobatch of greeting cards in accordance to the recipients for the greetingcards.
 21. The system of claim 15, wherein the sorting system isconfigured to read the machine-readable symbol printed on the one of thegreeting cards in the batch of greeting cards.
 22. The system of claim15, wherein the sorting system is configured to sort the separatebatches of the greeting cards in separate containers, wherein eachcontainer includes a batch of greeting cards, the system furthercomprising: a packaging station configured to package one or moreseparate containers in a package; and a shipping station configured toship the package to a recipient specified in one of the orders.
 23. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the production equipment comprises: a cutterconfigured to cut the one or more receivers into flat card sheets; and afolder configured to fold the flat card sheets to produce the greetingcards.